Interlocking ceramic tile elements



FIG.1

Sept. 25, 1962 J. D. MCCULLOUGH INTERLOCKING CERAMIC TILE ELEMENTS Original Filed March 26, 1958 ATTORNEY 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. James D. Mc Cullough Sept. 25, 1962 J. D. M CULLOUGH INTERLOCKING CERAMIC TILE ELEMENTS Original Filed March 26, 1958 2 Sheets-$heet 2 FIG.1O

INVENTOR.

BY James D. Mc Cullough ATTORNEY United States Patent ()fiice 3,055,651 Patented Sept. 25, 1962 3,055,651 INTERLOCKING CERAMHJ TILE ELEMENTS James D. McCullough, New York, N.Y., assignor to The Babcoclr & Wilcox Company, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New Jersey Continuation of application Ser. No. 724,004, Mar. 26, 1958. This appiication Sept. 2, 1960, Ser. No. 56,622 3 Claims. (Cl. 263-6) The present invention relates to interlocking refractory protectors for the internal supports of a high temperature heating furnace, and more particularly to an assembly of interlocking burned ceramic tile elements for use in protecting the fluid cooled supports of the skid rails in a heating furnace. This application is a continuation of my application filed March 26, 1958, Serial No. 724,004, and now abandoned.

In the heating of billets and other metal workpieces preparatory to further shaping or forming, it is customary to subject the workpieces to direct heating while passing through a furnace. The billets, or workpieces, are frequently passed through the heating zone of the furnace on skid rails. With this construction, fuel may be burned both above and below the skid rails so that the billets or workpieces may be heated from all sides for rapid heat penetration.

In such reheating furnaces the skid rails are usually supported by Water cooled tubes which are arranged to maintain the skid rails in a common plane for proper supporting of the workpieces moving through the furnace. Heretofore, the water cooled supports have been subjected to erosion and corrosion resulting from the high temperatures encountered in the furnace and oxidation of the metal from the flames. The life of the water cooled tubes may be relatively short under these conditions particularly since this structure must adequately support the workpieces and the skid rails.

In accordance with the present invention, segmental ceramic tiles are assembled in encircling relationship to the water cooled tubes so as to protect the tubes. The ceramic tiles are pre-burned in various shapes so as to effectively enclose the tube supports. They are constructed with an integral interlocking arrangement so that as they are assembled, the tiles Will be maintained in protected positional relationship with respect to the tubular support members. This is accomplished by an advantageous segmental construction in cooperation with protuberances and recesses on opposite sides of each of the tiles. When assembled, the protuberances on one surface of a tile engage corresponding recesses in the face or surface of an adjoining tile so that the assembly is efl'ectively interlocked in position with a minimum of mortar.

The various features of novelty which characterize my invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this specification. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and specific objects attained by its use, reference should be had to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which I have illustrated and described a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a billet heating furnace illustrating the billet supporting skid rails with water cooled supports protected by an assembly of ceramic tiles constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an elevation of a ceramic tile element;

FIG. 3 is a plan of FIG. 2 viewed from above;

FIGS. 4 and 5 are side and end views, respectively, of a modified form of a ceramic tile element;

FIGS. 6 and 7 are elevation and plan views, respectively, of an assembly of the tile elements shown in FIGS. 4 and 5;

FIGS. 8 and 9 are side and end views, respectively, of a further modification of the ceramic tile elements; and

FIG. 10 is an enlarged perspective viem of an assembly of protective tiles as applied to a portion of the support members shown in the heating furnace of FIG. :1.

Referring to FIG. 1, a billet reheating furnace 10 is illustrated with the floor 11 of the furnace providing the foundation for the skid rails 12. The skid rails are directly mounted upon generally horizontally extending water cooled tubes 13 which are in turn supported by transverse and vertically extending water cooled support tubes 14 and I5, respectively. In the construction shown, the exterior side and end Walls and the roof of the furnace are not illustrated since such construction is common in the art. Moreover, it will be understood that heat is applied to the heating furnace in the customary manner either by fuel combustion or by other heating means.

As shown in FIG. 1, the vertical tubular supports 15 and the transverse connecting tubular members 14 supporting the tubes 13 of the skid rails 12 are protected by ceramic materials which includes the ceramic tiles of the present invention and a moldable type of refractory material 16 installed at the junction between Vertical and horizontal supporting members. Suitable provision is made for relative movement between the ceramic and the water cooled tubes, as hereinafter described.

One form of the ceramic tile construction of the present invention is illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3. As shown, the tile member 17 is provided with substantially flat upper and lower surfaces '18 and 20, respectively, which are disposed in fiat planes. The tile member 17 has inner and outer curved side surfaces 21 and 22, respectively, so that the element is in the form of a semi-circular ring segment. The inner curved surface 21 of the tile member tuberances of one tile will engage the recesses of an adjoining tile so that when the tile members are assembled,

they are interlocked in position.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the interlocking means, represented by the protuberances and recesses, are necessarily located in correspondingly aligned positions normal to the parallel surface of the tube. As shown particularly in FIG. 3, the two recesses 23 are each positioned 45 from the end of the member (i.e. at the quarter points). With this construction, upwardly adjacent tile members may be rotated so that alternate layers of tile members 17 are positioned in overlapping relationship to securely interlock the assembly. It will, of course, be understood that more than two protuberances and recesses may be used in each surface and the angle between the end of the tile elements and the first protuberance or recess may be any multiple of 15 and the angular spacing between succeeding protuberances or recesses may also be the same 15 multiple.

A further modification of the ceramic tile member is disclosed in FIGS. 4 and 5 where the individual element 25 of the tile is formed as a segment of a ring. Thus, to form a complete ring enclosing a support tube, three elements 25 are arranged in end to end relationship. As hereinbefore described in connection With the form of the invention shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the interlocking protuberances 24' and recesses 23 are each positioned at the quarter points of the segment of the element. In the modification of FIGS. 4 and 5, the recess and protuberances are each positioned 30 from the end of the element.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the segental elements 25 of FIGS. 4 and are assembled in successive rings in overlapping relationship so that the protuberances of an overlapping upwardly adjoining segment will engage the recess of the downwardly adjacent tile segment.

A further modification of the ceramic tile element is disclosed in FIGS. 8 and 9. In this modification of the invention, the tile elements are intended to enclose two parallel tubular support members 26 and 27 for example. To accomplish this purpose, each tile element 28 is shaped in the form of a J. The element is provided with a straight portion 30' which merges into a semi-circular portion 31 to form the J. The end of the straight portion of the element terminates in alignment with the vertical axis of the support tube 26, for example, it is intended to enclose while the semi-circular portion of the element terminates in alignment with the axis of the companion support tube 27. Thus, two of the J sections arranged in reverse relationship form an elongated closure structure which surrounds the pair of tubular support members 26 and 27.

As shown in the drawings, each of the J-shaped elements is provided with three protuberanc-es 32 and three recesses 33 formed on opposite parallel surfaces of the element. Two proturberances 32A are formed at the quarter points of the semi-circular portion 31 of the element while the third protuberance 32B is formed at the mid-point of the straight portion of the element. Thus, with the construction described, adjacent rings formed of matching pairs of elements 28 are arranged in overlapping relationship so as to interlock successive layers of elements.

As shown in FIG. 10, the skid rails 12 of the heating furnace are directly mounted upon unprotected horizontally extending water cooled tubes 13. Each of the tubes is supported directly upon a transversely extending tube 14 which is in turn supported by upright U-shaped support tubes 15. The horizontally connecting portion 35 of the U-shaped tubes engages the transverse support tube 14 with the upright legs of the U having their lower ends tied in with the furnace floor 11 support structure. The described arrangement of support means is typical of this type of furnace construction. It will be noted that the upright portions of the support tubes may be protected by the ceramic tile elements 17 or 25 shown in FIG. 3 or FIG. 5, respectively, or by any combination of tiles 17 and 25 assembled in successive layers, provided the protuberances and recesses are arranged in multiple angular spacing as previously described. The horizontal portions of the support tubes 14 may be protected by the tile shape 17 indicated in FIG. 3 while other portions may be protected by the tile shapes 30 shown in FIG. 9. In the portion of the support tube arrangement including the bends of the U-shaped tubes, is is necessary to utilize a castable refractory material 16 extending between the tile elements protecting the straight runs of the support tubes.

Since the tubes 15 are protected by the ceramic tile, the temperature of the tubes will be maintained relatively uniform (i.e. a range of approximately 100 F.) while the temperature of the protective refractory covering will vary as much at 1500 to 2000 F. Under these circumstances, provisions are made in the cast refractory 16 for expansion of the protective covering, as by an expansion joint 36.

skilled in the art will understand that changes may be made in the form of the apparatus disclosed without departing from the spirit of the invention covered by my claims, and that certain features of my invention may sometimes be used to advantage without a corresponding use of other features.

What is claimed is:

1. In a heating furnace having a plurality of skid rails horizontally spaced and disposed in a common plane, support means for the contacting with said skid rails including upright and horizontally disposed portions of fluid cooled tubes of oxidizable metal, fiuid flow connection means between said tube portions and means for externally protecting said fluid cooled tubes comprising prefired cearmic means enclosing straight portions of said upright fluid cooled tube portions, said ceramic means including a plurality of complementary segmental members assembled in a plurality of closed rings and means on each ring so formed interlocked in surface contacting relationship with an adjoining ring to enclose said fluid cooled tube portions, and moldable type refractory material circumferentially enclosing the fluid flow connection means between the upright and horizontally disposed fluid cooled tube portions and substantially in contact with the adjoining closed rings of said prefired ceramic means.

2. In a heating furnace having a plurality of skid rails horizontally spaced and disposed in a common plane, support means for and contacting with said skid rails including upright and horizontally disposed portions of fluid cooled tubes of oxidizable metal, fluid flow connection means between said tube portions, and means for externally protecting said fluid cooled tubes comprising prefired ceramic means enclosing straight portions of said upright and horizontally disposed fluid cooled tube portions, said ceramic means including a plurality of complementary segmental members assembled in a plurality of closed rings and means on each ring so formed interlocked in surface contacting relationship with an adjoining ring to enclose said fluid cooled tube portions, and moldable type refractory material circumferentially enclosing the fluid flow connection means between the upright and horizontally disposed fluid cooled tube portions and substantially in contact with the adjoining closed rings of said prefired ceramic means.

3. In a heating furnace having a plurality of skid rails horizontally spaced and disposed in a common plane, support means for and contacting with said skid rails including upright and horizontally disposed portions of fluid cooled tubes of oxidizable metal, fluid flow connection means between said tube portions, and means for externally protecting said fluid cooled tubes comprising prefired ceramic refractory means enclosing straight portions of said upright and horizontally disposed fluid cooled tube portions, said ceramic means including a plurality of complementary segmental members assembled in a plurality of closed rings and means on each ring so formed interlocked in surface contacting relationship with an adjoining ring to enclose said fluid cooled tube portions, and moldable type refractory material circumferentially enclosing the fluid flow connection means between the upright and horizontally disposed fluid cooled tubes, and expansion means in the refractory materials enclosing said support tubes adjacent the connection means between upright and horizontally disposed fluid cooled tube portions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,022,649 Corriston Dec. 3, 1935 2,435,362 Morton Feb. 3, 1948 2,884,879 Corriston May 5, 1959 

